Boston, MA – Latinos for Education, the nation’s first Latino-founded organization focused on elevating the voice and representation of Latinos within the education sector and pushing for educational equity for Latino families, issued the following statement on the proposed spending plan by the Massachusetts House of the $3.6 Billion American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds the state received:
“This once in a lifetime funding must be met with bold and transformative policies that can help close longstanding equity gaps in Massachusetts’ education system. We are thrilled with the $10 million commitment of ARPA funds towards educator diversity efforts in our state as well as the $50 million commitment to achieve digital equity, and we thank House Speaker Ron Mariano, Chairman Aaron Michelewitz, Chairwoman Alice Peisch, Leader Thomas Golden and Leader Frank Moran for their leadership on this issue. Latinos for Education has worked tirelessly to elevate the voices of students, families and educators across the Commonwealth, and are pleased that the plan reflects what is needed.
The COVID-19 pandemic has made it clear that we risk losing millions of students from our education system, unless we are able to equip all families in our state, especially Latino families, with the appropriate broadband and tech devices they need to thrive. We are happy to see proposed investments that will make broadband more readily available and affordable to more families in our state.
At the same time, the pandemic is taking a heavy toll on educators of color, who are already underrepresented in our state’s educator workforce, only making up 9% of all teachers. If our state is serious about tackling racial equity issues in education, then they must invest in hiring, retaining and promoting more educators of color so our Latinx, Black and API students can have teachers in their lives that share their background and validate their identity and potential.
We hope the Senate will build on these investments so that our Latino families receive the education investments they deserve.”
Media Relations Contact:
Anthony Perez
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714-623-2650
